Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope is a retro-styled 2D platformer from Yacht Club Games, born on Kickstarter as an NES love letter. It worked. It is a certified classic, and it still plays like one.

You are Shovel Knight, once the mightiest hero beside your partner Shield Knight. After a battle at the Tower of Fate she is lost and the tower is sealed. Grief pushes you into solitude while the land falls to the Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter. You take up the shovel again, cut through the Order, and try to save the common folk.

The game moves the way you want a game like this to move. Controls are tight and responsive. You jump pits and spikes, grab loot, clear enemies and bosses, and dig dirt with that ridiculous shovel. Each stage has its own look and a mechanic that sells the theme. The NES DNA is obvious, but this is not a ripoff in a novelty frame. It is a tribute with modern polish and its own face.

Simplicity is the trick. Beat the bad guys, save the day, and somehow that thin spine holds a ton of charm. Character designs, enemy gags, level layouts, and the witty chatter between knights all land as endearing. The tone stays light and goofy without turning every line into a wink. Take the Troupple King: a giant apple-fish who fills your empty chalice with special ichors and does a little dance while he does it. I love the Troupple King. Favorite character in the game.

After a stage you want the next one immediately. Slashing and pogoing off enemies feels good. Secrets and collectibles pack the map. Breakable terrain makes rooms more than corridors. You will die, and most of the time that is on your fingers, not cheap design.

Few games leave lore open in a way I actually like. Elsewhere, missing context often reads as laziness. Here, nods to your past with other knights never fully unpack what happened or why you parted. The gaps make the roster feel bigger. You want more of the world. Even with the later campaigns filling shelves, little threads stay open for speculation, and that still works.

The Catch Her sequences are the bit that stuck with me for years. After some levels you camp by a fire, drift off, and dream the night you lost Shield Knight at the Tower of Fate. In the dream you can catch her. Every time you reach out, you wake. Later dreams stack more enemies in your way, and they dump absurd amounts of gold. Narrative and systems shake hands: you play the grief fantasy of saving her, then bank the loot for upgrades before the next stage.

Heart and charm all the way through. Play it. Nine out of ten.